Around the other volcano

On Saturday I got some much-needed relaxation and a lovely breakfast of fruit, pancakes with honey, and good Nicaraguan coffee. After spending much of the morning washing clothes, I set up the toughness tester and examined some leaves. I’m not sure that I really got any useful data from this, but I did get practice using the machine and I also established a protocol for conducting the tests. I reviewed the Teaford et al (2006) paper, where they very clearly described their methods and provided a drawing of a leaf, labeling 6 different points where they made cuts. At first this had seemed infinitely complicated, but when I actually sat down with the machine and my leaves, I thought “Aha, I can do this!” So if I can figure out a way to actually get the samples, I am going to follow their protocol. In a geeky way, I am very excited about this.

On Sunday I also had a lovely breakfast (note: having a lovely breakfast is often all it takes to make my day), and after doing some work on the computer, I went out for a run. Its hard to believe, but the last time I went running was more than a month ago. I need to get myself back in the distance-running mode—my mind and body are definitely happiest when I am marathon-training. So I went running and it was great. I loved every second of it. I probably went too far, but no major damage was done... I don't think. I took it pretty easy—walking a lot when it felt like I needed to, or stopping to enjoy the views of the volcanoes and lake when it got especially pretty. At one point a guy on a motorcycle zipped past me and then stopped, looking back at me curiously like “What in the heck is this crazy gringa doing?” He asked me if I wanted a ride to wherever it was that I was going. I laughed and tried to explain that I did not need a ride. He still looked a little worried but wished me well and then was on his way.

Meanwhile, Rob was out for a bike ride that, in typical Rob fashion, turned out to be a really loooong bike ride. I had anticipated as much. He told me he was headed in the “direction of Altagracia” but wasn’t sure how far he was going to go—he said he’d just play it by ear. Just before he left, he told me not to wait for him to eat lunch because he would probably stop to eat something while he was out. Hmm, I thought. After I got back from running, I checked my email and he had sent me a message from an internet café in Moyogalpa—telling me that he’d eaten lunch and was going to go ahead and ride all the way around Volcán Concepción. Hmm, I thought again. He got home around 3:30, long before I was expecting him. He was fine and had had a good ride, but really the only thing he elaborated on was that he’d had a really good lunch in Moyogalpa—it involved cheese/vegetable sandwiches, pineapple juice, and a Snickers bar. Soooo, with his trip around Maderas last weekend and today’s ride around Concepción, he has now been around the whole island on bicycle.

And I’ve got some good news concerning my research. Simeon stopped by the Hacienda this evening and I talked with him about collecting leaves. He’s working in the fields most of the week, but he is free on Thursday and said he would come out and help me. That is great news. We can get some samples on Thursday and then I can use the toughness tester on Friday. Forgive me if I don’t post too much during the week—on days when I’m out in the forest I don’t have too much time to blog. But if anything interesting happens, I will do my best to update! Thanks for reading.